Allan Oliver

Allan Oliver is the Executive Director of the Thornburg Foundation. He oversees the Foundation’s Strategic Initiatives in K-12 education, good government reforms, food and agriculture, water, homelessness as well as Community Funding grants for social service organizations.

The Thornburg Foundation works to catalyze high-impact outcomes using evidence to understand and solve systemic problems, engage stakeholders to drive policy reform and advance meaningful and lasting change.   He has served as Executive Director for 10 years.  He has served on Governor Lujan Grisham’s Education Transition team.  He was named to the Governor’s statewide Census Complete Count Commission and co-chaired the Census Funders group.  He has been recognized by Albuquerque Business First as a C-Suite Honoree for his accomplishments.  In 2021, Allan was named to the Points of Light Inspiration Honor role for his efforts in New Mexico during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Allan served as Cabinet Secretary-Designate and Deputy Secretary for the New Mexico Economic Development Department. Allan also served as Director of Cabinet Affairs and Deputy Communications Director for Governor Bill Richardson.

He also established the Partnership for Responsible Business and the New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce, a business association with over 1100 members supporting renewable energy technology and responsible business practices.

Mr. Oliver earned a Master’s in Public Administration from the Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and was named a William Hodson Fellow for International Public Service. He recently completed and Executive Education program has Harvard Business School focused on Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management. He also served as an NGO specialist and initiated the municipal development program for the US Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala and served as country director for the National Democratic Institute in Kazakhstan.

He serves on the board of the Santa Fe School for Arts and Sciences, the national Funders Census Initiative.  Allan enjoys spending time in New Mexico’s incredible outdoors and most of all enjoys spending time with his son Max.